Taste of Melbourne 2010 - Part II - Maze, Izakaya Den, The Palace, Sarti, Charcoal Lane

Part II of my Taste of Melbourne Post concentrates on the majority of the dishes we had whilst working our way through the throng and bustle of the crowd... this is not counting all the other freebies of alcohol, cheese, lamb, chocolate etc...


maze Restaurant & maze Grill


Because we've already been to Maze when they first opened in Melbourne, we were curious to their new menu (well the Boy was more so than I)...


It was disappointing that not many of the head chef's were around and we didn't get to see Josh Emmett


Cured Marlborough king salmon with sweet corn, chorizo and kipfler potato (12 crowns)... the fish looked extremely well done.. but it wasn't.. it was amazingly tender and medium rare... and wonderfully rich in Omega 3!!


The Boy had a delicious Seared Hopkins River beef, with shitake and aged soy dressing (12 crowns)


Izakaya Den


Saturday's Pop-up Restaurant had me running towards it (as I didn't want to miss out)


Embarrassingly, I'd never heard of this Izakaya prior to this event (I know... I am *ashamed*)


The Sweet corn kaki-age served with green tea salt (8 crowns) was interesting and with the green tea salt adding in a delicate flavour to the sweet corn ... not quite worth the crowns though...


The same goes for the Spicy Tuna Tataki (12 crowns), good, but it doesn't stand out from the other Japanese Izakaya's out there...


Sarti


We didn't actually get to eat this dish from Sarti - although I really wanted too!

Pistachio 'panna cotta' with caramel salted popcorn (8 crowns)


Charcoal Lane


The happy team at Charcoal Lane =)


I only managed to sample 1 out of the 3 dishes on offer, but managed to get pictures for all of them anyway (GO ME!)

So here was the one dish I did try and it was delicious (although slightly salty)

Wallaby Tataki with ginger, soy and horseradish (10 crowns)... I can safely say, I much prefer Kangaroo over Wallaby =)


Their Seared Kingfish, Red Curry, Puffed Rice and Coconut (12 crowns)


Their star dessert of Raspberry & Rosella Flower cannelloni, Strawberry and native mint salad (8 crowns)


Longrain


I heard that their Salted Western plains pork & prawn sweet rool with pickled vegetables (10 crowns) was very much overpriced and under-taste (a pity)


However, that didn't stop them from drawing a huge crowd.


Longrain was situated just upstairs and had pretty much their very own busy disco and dance spot with a bar and DJ in attendance!


With a bar offering both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions of drinks, it was hard to not want to try their drinks...


The Boy and I both had a Virgin Ping Pong - lychees, passionfruit and fresh lime (8 crowns) and a Virgin Moscow Mule - fresh lime & mint topped with ginger beer (8 crowns) --> the alcoholic versions were 12 crowns


In terms of drinks, I didn't hurry back for a second glass and hurriedly returned to Stokehouse for another Espresso Martini!!!

Read more about Part I of Taste of Melbourne...

Stay tuned for Parts III and IV!!!

Be Amazed by Gordon Ramsay's Maze @ Crown Metropol Hotel - Southbank

Maze opened a couple of weeks ago, the 29th of March to be exact, and as such it's still relatively easy to make a booking as many are waiting for more reviews to show up before they try the offerings...

(Peephole to the lounge area, where you can sit and wait for your table)

I called to book on Sunday morning for the lunch session, and was pleasantly surprised at treatment and phone manner service... very good (first impressions have been made)

(The bar, where you can again sip and look sophisticated whilst they find your spot)

When we arrived (a tad early) we were greeted with smiles, and brought to our table by the usher and immediately greeted with bright smiles from our Maitre' D...


(The bird cage like light shades)

He informed us apolgetically, that at this stage the gas supply in this side of the CBD area had ceased, and as such the delivery of the food to our table might be a delayed...



The bird motif's on the wall

(A closer shot of the motif)

I was just trigger happy, as we were one of the first few diners seated, and I wasn't the only one happily snapping away!

(The view from our table)

As usual, we were given time to peruse the menu and the wine list...

(I love LOVE love the open plan and ceiling/floor windows)

It was well spaced between tables and we didn't have to nudge the next table as we did in Cutler and Co



The menu was a simple and AFFORDABLE (NOTE GORDON RAMSAY)... AFFORDABLE *ahem* spread with either a 3 course $38 or a 4 course $49.. that's right, you read right...



We wanted to try their Chef's menu (Degustation) which is available upon request, but decided that we would both do the 4 course meal (and then have 8 different dishes to sample, as oppose to the 7 in the Degustation)... clever huh?

I decided to go with 2 entrees, a main and a dessert.

The Boy went with 1 entree, 2 mains and a dessert.



I absolutely loved the cutlery stand/holder and wanted to sneak it into my bag.. too obvious? *sigh*



When we were served the bread, we were introduced to the Affagato butter.. and I thought I'd heard it wrong.. until I put a slice of buttered bread into my mouth...

I was in heaven!!!!! It was so smooth, with a hint of coffee and so delicious... first we tried it on it's own.. and then we sprinkled the sea salt on it.. the taste explosion in my mouth was so great that we quickly devoured the 4 slices of bread...

And just when I was saddened that I had no more bread to go with the butter... they came with MORE!.. they refill the bread as you go! ABSOLUTE genius!



First up, I the Boy had the Jerusalem artichoke veloute, southern rock lobster and green beans ($18)



Whilst I had the Marinated pink fir potatoes, smoked eel, sour cream, blackened leeks and shaved foie gras ($14)



My seared yellow fin tuna, white radish, yuzu, enoki mushrooms, black garlic ($16)



The Boy's pan roasted barramundi, butternut squash, compressed cucumber, and pumpkin seeds ($20)




The Boy's Ox "tongue and cheek", caper and raisin, carrots, horseradish pomme puree ($23), which he cheekily tried to point out how they got the cheek so tender.. (which was by slapping the cow until it's tongue rolled out)... disgusting yes I know, but extremely hilarious when you're trying to not giggle in a fine dining environment.. hee hee



My Lamb cannon and shoulder, califlower puree, anchovy and stinging nettles (Which I thought was spinach.. goes to show, how little I know) ($24)

(The Flash Natzi aka the Boy spend countless minutes photoshopping the above picture... and has hinted indirectly and directly - by way of putting it on my desktop, that it should be on this blog)

And then they cleared away our dishes, and dusted our table... I continued to munch my bread smothered with butter at this point.. and then the waittress took it away! *Sniff*



The Boy's carrot cake with carrot puree (This is only on the lunch menu)



My Chocolate cremeaus and banana bread, salted macadamia nuts, and pearl barley ice-cream ($16)



To finish off, the Boy had English Breakfast tea (served hilariously in a Japanese-esque tea pot)



And I topped off the wonderful meal with a very strong caffe latte...

I've put in brackets the prices of each food item as listed on their ala'carte menu, but considering I only paid $115 for the entire meal... it was super CHEAP for a fine dining environment!

If you do go, I hope you enjoy the same wonderful experience as I did, I know I will be returning!

Overall Food Rating: 8.5/10
Restaurant ambiance: 9/10
Value for money: 9.5/10

Address:
Crown Metropol Hotel
8 Whiteman Street (Corner of Clarendon and Whiteman Streets)
Southbank 3006

Opening Hours: Daily noon-2.30pm, 6pm-10.30pm

Tel:(03)9292 8300

Website:http://www.gordonramsay.com/mazemelbourne

How to get there:

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